Through Her Eyes
by writeonadeserthighway
Summary: Selene was looking at her, but at the same time, Luna knew she couldn't possibly see her; couldn't see the pink and white onesie she held, couldn't see the tiny heart shaped buttons she was fiddling with. Written for the Pregnancy Is Complicated challenge
1. Chapter 1

_**Through Her Eyes**_

"_If love is blind, then maybe a blind person that loves has a greater understanding of it.__**"**__**-**__ Criss Jami_

Luna sat in the hard plastic chair, looking at the pink and white onesie in her hands, fiddling with the tiny heart shaped buttons, and then finally plucked up the courage to look at the baby that lay beside her in a cot: Selene, a tiny, vulnerable girl, whom had just been wheeled out of the premature baby unit. She was improving, according to the doctors. Luna found it hard to grasp that this tiny little baby really was alright, after all the complications. Selene was looking at her, but at the same time, Luna knew she couldn't possibly see her; couldn't see the pink and white onesie she held, couldn't see the tiny heart shaped buttons she was fiddling with. She had the most beautiful eyes, a sparkling emerald green, and yet they were of no use to her.

"Hey." Neville peered through the door. "Mind if I come in?"

Luna shook her head gently and gestured her husband in. He pulled up a chair beside her and sat and watched Selene. She reminded him so much of Luna, almost a tiny, china doll version of her. It felt like they'd been in this hospital a life time now, waiting around to see their daughter, and here she finally was, a perfect little miracle in a midnight blue onesie. She'd made it.

"Our little survivor." Neville commented, reaching out to take his daughters hand, smiling as her fingers curled around his and her head turned slightly.

"What do you think she sees? Does she see darkness or just..."

"Let's not talk about that right now, Luna." Neville said stiffly. It was a particularly difficult subject with the two of them. "There are things the healers can do, they might be able to get back some of her sight..."

"I know." Luna replied, fiddling with the bottom of her hospital night gown. Her knees still showed bruises from where she'd hit the hospital floor, breaking down at the prospect of losing her child. She supposed she was lucky to have her at all, looking at the size of her now. She must have been as small as a knargle when she was born.

"It's all alright now, you know. The doctors say we can take her home today." Neville sensed his wife's worry.

"I know." Luna said again, quietly. She was very tired and stressed, it was hard to get to sleep in the hospital, knowing your baby could be dying a few units away, and hearing happy mother's leaving with their perfectly healthy babies. Why had her baby been premature? Why was she blind? What had she done wrong? But no one could tell her. "These things happen." The doctors had said. They were trying to help her baby, at least, trying treatments that might make her see, if only just a little. That was all Luna wanted, for her daughter to see her.

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"So, Mrs Longbottom: We've been watching your daughter for the past few weeks and the treatment we agreed on appears to be working..." Healer Tristen said, looking over the papers on her desk, and pulling out the item she had been searching for "Junior Healers have noticed that Selene's eyes are following them when they move, which essentially means she knows where they are. What we are suggesting is that she can see at the very least outlines and at the very most complete shapes."

"So, what would that mean for her, exactly?" Neville asked anxiously from the seat next to Luna.

"It means that, over time her sight could possibly improve to be only a slightly lower standard than you or I, Mr Longbottom, however there is no history of this happening. It **will **definitely improve from the state that it is now; although unfortunately there really is no telling as to what quality it will stop at. We're very lucky we noticed early or this really would be the best we could get."

"Then..." Luna began cautiously "Will she ever see us?"

"She can see, as I said, your outline, though in regards to detail and facial recognition, with regrets, we can truly only wait and see: that is, assess your daughter over the coming weeks. These are promising signs, Mrs Longbottom."

"Is there anything we should be doing at home, Doctor? Anything we can help with?"

"Actually there is, yes. I'm sure you have seen those muggle picture books, you know, a picture of an elephant and writing underneath saying something such as 'e for elephant'?" Both Luna and Neville nodded "Good. So, say your daughter can see the outline of this elephant, and say you bought her a toy elephant? If she showed recognition that the picture and the toy were the same thing... it would suggest good things. Healer Reyna will provide you with one on the way out"

"Thank you, doctor." Luna and Neville said in unison, leaving their chairs and accepting the tiny toy elephant, whose name tag identified her as Tina, and the small felt book from Healer Reyna, and followed her down to Luna's room where Selene was being watched by a Junior Healer. They both stopped and looked at her for a long moment.

"Imagine what the world must look like through her eyes." Luna said, watching Selene giggling as Healer Reyna placed her in her pram.

"Pretty strange, I guess." Neville replied, squeezing his wife's hand.

Luna took the handles of the pram and wheeled her baby out onto the corridor. This was the moment Luna had been looking forward to when she first got pregnant. The oohs and ahhs of the healers and the patients at the hospital: In truth, Selene really did deserve them. She was beautiful. She was coming home.


	2. Chapter 2

_**Through Her Eyes**_

"_But the eyes are blind. One must look with the heart.__**"- **_Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Neville sat in the worn out brown leather armchair, with Selene in the crook of his arm, going through the picture book with her, as she clutched Tina the elephant in her tiny hand. She had been back two weeks now, and was still not, as the doctors said 'demonstrating recognition'. He would have said they had given him false hope, but she was showing small signs of improvement. She definitely liked the elephant page of the book the best, because she would cry whenever he tried to move from that page. She liked to stare at the picture really hard for about five minutes, reaching out and touching it at the same time.

"Now, Selene, F is for frog..." Selene twisted away and began to cry again, so back went the page "E is for Elephant..." The crying quickly stopped and she reached out to touch the picture again. _She knows, _Neville thought, _she knows when the page is an elephant and when it's a frog or a dog. _SNAP! Neville flinched in shock before realising what was going on. Luna stood in the doorway with her camera, laughing. They'd decided to start taking pictures as soon as they got back, and they were all over the living room wall. They hoped Selene might recognise them from the pictures, but had no luck so far.

"You look ever so serious, you know." Luna smiled, perching on the arm and ruffling his hair. "You'd think you really wanted to get on to the f is for frog page: maybe we should get you a toy frog!"

"Oh very funny, I've been trying to get off this page for ten minutes now!"

"Well that's good, see, she's thinking about it for longer, maybe she's noticing the similarities." Luna reached out and took Selene's hand.

"Yeah, sure looks like it, doesn't it?" Neville commented, closing the book. Selene didn't seem to mind the pages turning when both parents were in the room.

"Come on you, "Luna said, tickling Selene under the chin. "Time for you to get dressed!"

Selene had grown quite a little bit since she had been brought back from the hospital and was now classed as newborn in baby clothing shops, much to her Aunt Ginny's and Aunt Hermione's delight, and she now had a full wardrobe of baby clothes. Selene nudged her head against a small blue dress and Luna pulled it out and dressed her. They were due a visit from Healer Reyna in a few minutes for their weekly assessment, and they meant to bring up the recent developments with the book.

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"She's responding to the book?" Luna and Neville nodded, as Healer Reyna held on to Selene "That's very good news, it seems as if she recognises the shape. As soon as she knows where she recognises it from, we'll be able to pretty confidently say that she's improving."

"That's great news." Luna let out a sigh of relief.

"It is indeed, Mrs Longbottom." Healer Reyna nodded pleased to be able to tell the couple some good news at last.

"So...does this mean she'll probably be able to go to Hogwarts?" Neville asked hopefully.

"I'm afraid I really can't say, Mr Longbottom. Perhaps a specialised muggle school, as she is now, but as I say, if she shows recognition and recall of images then by the time she is eligible to attend... You must understand that this is the very best case scenario, I wouldn't want to give false hope."

"No, not at all- that she can attend any school is just...it's amazing, you know? When the Healers first said..." Luna shook her head "but now she can go...she can really have a life."

"Of course," Healer Reyna smiled "She's definitely improving, Mrs Longbottom, of that much I am absolutely sure."

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"Neville?" Luna asked quietly, because Selene was asleep in the next room.

"Yeah?" Neville replied, rolling over in the bed to face her.

"Now that we know she's alright...do you think we could get her christened?"

"Sure," Neville smiled "One on condition."

"What?"

"You have to write all the invites- the amount I had to do for our wedding; my hands hurt just thinking of it!" He laughed.

"Alright." Luna smiled, and then groaned as Selene began crying in the other room. She wandered through, picked Selene up and began rocking her and singing

"I see the moon  
The moon sees me  
God bless the moon  
and God bless me

I see the stars  
The stars see me  
God bless the stars  
and God bless me

I see the world.  
The world sees me.  
God bless the world,  
And God bless me.

I know an angel  
Watches over me.  
God bless the angels,  
And God bless me."


	3. Chapter 3

_**Through Her Eyes**_

"Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind, and therefore is winged Cupid painted blind.**" **– William Shakespeare

Luna gently placed Selene in her beautiful white christening gown, patterned with silver moons and stars, and placed a tiny silver bangle on her hand. They were ready to go to church. Five months after she had been born, they were finally ready. They really had made it, Luna thought, kissing the top of her daughter head, and carrying her downstairs to wear Neville was waiting in the car.

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Friends and family in the pews smiled as Selene was brought down the aisle by Luna. Harry, Ginny, Albus, Lily and James sat at the front left, and Ron, Hermione, Hugo and Rose on the front right because Hermione and Harry were to be Selene's god parents. Neville had picked Hermione because he knew that way Selene would be well educated and Luna had picked Harry because she wanted Selene to be as brave as he was and had been. The Vicar smiled as they reached the altar, and the ceremony began.

"Selene Alice Longbottom, I christen you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy spirit." The Vicar concluded, brushing the holy water in a cross over Selene's forehead.

As everyone got up to go to the party, Ginny got up from the pew and walked towards her old friend, who smiled when she saw her approaching.

"She's beautiful, Luna." Ginny whispered, taking Selene's tiny hand.

"She really is, isn't she?" Luna said softly, tears in her eyes,

"Of course," Ginny smiled "She's perfect."

"I can't believe she's really mine and Neville's." Luna laughed "How does someone so perfect come from people like us?"

"I know: must have been some kind of mix up!" Ginny laughed

"Yes, obviously," Luna grinned

"Come on, we've got a party to go to!"

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_Two weeks later..._

"That was some party!" Neville smiled, flicking through the photographs.

"Can we see them?" Luna asked, gesturing to Selene who was sitting in her lap, chewing on Tina's ear. Neville passed them over and went to make some coffee.

"Look, Selene, there's you." Luna pointed to the picture and then tapped her finger to Selene's chest "and there, see, that's me."

The picture showed Luna smiling with a slice of christening cake in her hand, with a silver party hat on. Selene stared at it, and refused to let Luna change over the photo.

"You like that one, huh?" Luna asked, ruffling the few pale blonde curls on top of Selene's head. Selene began tugging at the photograph and Luna let go.

Selene stared at it for a long time, running her finger around the shape just as she had done with the elephant picture in the book. She touched the picture, and then touched Luna's chest.

"Yes, Selene: That's me."


End file.
